Spike
Story Spike's girlfriend Molly has been kidnapped by his evil nemesis Spud! Spike must rescue her while climbing ladders, jumping platforms, and avoiding the denizens that are out to cause Spike's demise in this pseudo 3-D platformer. The game was created and released by GCE in 1983 for the Vectrex. Gameplay Spike starts out at the bottom of the game screen. There are three sets of platforms that he must climb to make it to the top to reach Molly. The platforms move from side to side and Spike must place ladders as the player(s) feel fit will best help him make it from one level of platforms to the next. The first level has no enemies (except if Spike falls to the ground below); Spike must climb ladders to get the key, and then once he makes it to the top, he can move Molly's cage and then jump into it to save her. Unfortunately Spud immediately recaptures Molly, and with level two, Bouncers are introduced, which bounce up and down while moving from one side to another on a row of platforms; once the Bouncer reaches a screen edge, they will reappear at the next level of platforms. Spike must either avoid or kick the Bouncers away, but Molly's bow also starts appearing on this level and makes its way to the bottom of the screen; if Spike is able to grab it, it will freeze the Bouncer for a short time. Then on the third level, Birds start appearing, and then Bouncers start joining them as well afterwards. The platforms will also change size (alternating between large and small), the enemies and platforms will move quicker, and the platforms will also change direction each time Spike kicks an enemy if the player makes it far enough into the game. Spike will lose a life if he falls through the spaces in between all platforms to the ground below (also, if Spike reaches the edge of a screen and the platform he is on is pushing him into the edge, he will be pushed off onto the ground below) or gets touched by an enemy and the game will end when he runs out of lives. An extra life is awarded with every 10,000 points. Trivia *This was the only release from the original GCE lineup of games that could talk (as the Vectrex didn't have speech capability). Molly says "eek...help...Spike", sounding like the pieced-together automated phone services of today, then "oh, Spike" when she is rescued, while Spike bellows "oh no! Molly!" when she is kidnapped, and "darnit!" when he loses a life. *This game would propel Spike as to being "the unofficial Vectrex mascot", as he has since appeared in many modern Vectrex homebrews, such as Spike's Water Balloons (on the All Good Things and Vectopia cartridges), Spike Goes Skiing and Spike Hoppin'. *Following in the steps of Fortress of Narzod, a homebrew port for the Commodore 64 of Spike was also created in 2010. Links A review (6.5/10) and the "darnit!" soundclip can be heard at vectrex.nl